"Their opinion no doubt influenced by a recent downturn in fortunes, some Bristol City fans are beginning to question the wisdom of the club's decision to sell Jonathan Kodjia.

"City's top-scorer last season, the Ivory Coast international was sold to Championship rivals Aston Villa shortly before the August 31 transfer deadline.

"There was general dismay among the Ashton Gate faithful at the time, although few were prepared to argue against accepting a Championship-record fee of £15m for a player that cost £3.1m when he joined the Robins from Angers 13 months earlier.

"Certainly, Kodjia was not missed as loan signing Tammy Abraham hit the ground running and City won six of their opening 11 games to establish themselves among the early-season play-off contenders.

"Recruited from Chelsea, Abraham took the English second tier by storm, scoring 11 times in 14 appearances to render erstwhile fans' favourite Kodjia a distant memory.

Jonathan Kodjia of Aston Villa celebrates

"But events since then have served to alter perceptions. Abraham's supply of goals has dried up, Kodjia has begun to find the back of the net regularly for upwardly-mobile Villa and City have slipped out of play-off contention and dropped to 13 in the table following three consecutive defeats in which they have scored just once.

"Kodjia's goal in Saturday's 3-1 win over Cardiff took his tally for the season to seven and helped the Villans move above City in the table.

"By comparison, Abraham has found the back of the net once in eight outings and, having been fifth in early October, the Robins are now down to 13th, two positions beneath Villa.

"A majority of City fans continue to argue that Villa's bid for Kodjia was too good to turn down. Certainly, it represented fantastic business, enabling City to recoup at a stroke much of the capital outlay they had lavished on bringing Lee Tomlin, Hordur Magnusson, Gustav Engvall, Callum O'Dowda, Adam Matthews and Abraham to Ashton Gate.

Jonathan Kodjia

"His head turned by transfer speculation, Kodjia left City with little choice but to cash in, effectively refusing to play in an EFL Cup tie at Scunthorpe in August.

"City's chief problem is that they have yet to adequately replace the French-born striker, becoming increasingly dependent for goal upon 19-year-old Championship rookie Abraham.

"Now that results are going against the Robins and the goals have dried up – City have scored five times in their previous seven Championship outings – it seems Kodjia is being missed. And despite the overwhelming financial case for selling him to Villa, some are questioning whether the decision was indeed the right one in the long-term."

The current vote on the Bristol site sees 59% of fans stating that the club WERE right to sell him to Villa.